EU Pushes On With Single European Patent Plan

Establishing a patent enforceable across the whole of Europe could save companies in the region up to £260 million a year according to the EU which is pushing ahead with plans to create a common European Patent Court.

In a statement this week, the EU Competitiveness Council announced its support of new European patent regulation and the creation of a European Patent Court. The next stage in the process will be for the European Parliament and the European Court of Justice to give their views on the proposals.

“I am very pleased that we have finally seen a political breakthrough in these difficult negotiations that have gone on for so long. I am proud that the Council has now sent a clear and unambiguous signal to Europe’s innovative companies that have long been calling for an improved patent system,” said EU Minister for Trade Ewa Björling. “The EU patent will make it much easier and cheaper to protect innovations in the EU. This will give European industry better opportunities to compete on the global market.”

According to the EU, the single European patent system should speed up and cut the costs associated with enforcing patents across the whole region. “The EU patent will be cost-effective and remedy the current situation where it is much more expensive to get patent protection in the EU than in our competing markets. Protection in 13 Member States currently costs 11 times more than a patent in the United States,” the EU authorities stated.

Part of creating the single European patent system includes establishing a single European Patent Court which the EU believes could help cut costs by around SEK 3 billion (£260m). “Establishing an EU patent and a single European Patent Court is the single most important measure for promoting innovation in Europe. In view of the major simplifications and cost savings, this is, of course, also particularly important for small and medium-sized enterprises,” said EU Minister for Justice Beatrice Ask.

Companies including Microsoft have been pushing for a more international approach to patents. In September, Microsoft’s Horacio Gutierrez corporate vice president and deputy general counsel said that over 3.5 million patent applications are pending around the world, including over 750,000 in the U.S – and the costs and time-delays are too high at present. A single global patent system would ease the burden on companies and patent offices.

“In today’s world of universal connectivity, global business and collaborative innovation, it is time for a world patent that is derived from a single patent application, examined and prosecuted by a single examining authority and litigated before a single judicial body,” he said.

In 2006, Microsoft and Linux-distribution owner Novell signed an interoperability collaboration agreement which included some protection relating to Microsoft’s ownership of intellectual property in the open source operating system. The companies announced more than 475 customers have signed up to the shared services the companies provide around Linux and Windows.

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In October, phone maker Nokia sued Apple in a US district court, claiming Apple’s iPhone infringes Nokia patents for GSM, UMTS and WLAN standards. According to Nokia, it has invested over $60 billion in R&D in the last two decades, producing “one of the wireless industry’s strongest and broadest IPR portfolios, with over 10,000 patent families”.